City councillors who support sending the Toronto Zoo's African elephants to the PAWS sanctuary in California insist the three should go despite a lab test this week showing that an elephant at the U.S. facility tested positive for TB.

The Star learned that positive results for Annie, a 52-year-old Asian elephant at PAWS, are only preliminary and must be confirmed before any treatment starts.

Annie has already been in quarantine for more than three years, along with two other Asian elephants which tested positive for exposure to the disease, PAWS co-owner Pat Derby told the Star by phone Thursday.

City council voted last year to send Toronto’s elephants Iringa, 42, Toka, 41 and Thika, 31, to PAWS near Sacramento. That decision led to an eight-month controversy over whether the sprawling sanctuary was the right choice.

It became so heated and public that former game show host Bob Barker, a philanthropist, recently insisted on an “ironclad guarantee” that his promised gift of $880,000 would be used to pay for a flight for elephants to California.

Toronto councillors who’ve backed the move remain steadfast.

“We’ve had four elephants die at the Toronto Zoo in recent years, primarily from complications from being in captivity,” said Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker, adding that Toronto can’t match the 30 hectares of rolling grassland at PAWS.

“It shouldn’t surprise anybody that an animal that was exposed to TB before arrival at PAWS might have eventually developed the disease. But I’m 100 per cent certain about their quarantine protocols.”

When asked for comment on the test results, a spokesperson for Toronto Zoo CEO John Traconia said in an email: “The zoo, through its lawyer, is still proceeding with the due diligence process with PAWS. There is no other update to provide at this time.”

De Baeremaeker hopes to see the elephants moved soon because there’s already been “far too much fear-mongering about TB.”

Derby forwarded the lab tests for Annie to the Toronto Zoo as soon as they came in Wednesday. Once the results are confirmed, treatment will begin.

PAWS tests its elephants every three months. Asian and African elephants are kept separate, and not just during the quarantine period.

Councillor Michelle Berardinetti brought a motion to council last October to send the elephants to PAWS. This was after zoo management — through the zoo board — failed for five months to recommend a replacement facility, as had been agreed upon at a zoo board meeting in May. The hope was to move the three before another winter arrived.

“It doesn’t change anything as far as I’m concerned because PAWS has been transparent with information from the beginning and we have always known about the TB issue,” said Berardinetti.

“I am satisfied that PAWs is strict on quarantine protocols and, as long as they are in place, it’s absolutely the best place for our elephants.”

The zoo recently agreed to begin its due diligence examination of health records and care protocol at PAWS, possibly as early as next week. As well, a U.S. import permit has been issued for the elephants.

Derby said she hopes there is no more controversy.

“Our quarantine protocols are very strict and we do test far more often than the U.S. (Food and Drug Administration) stipulates,” she said.

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